PLANTERS TO PRODUCE PEANUT FREE PEANUTS

November 7 2008

Northfield, IL – Kraft Food, Inc. has announced that their Planters peanuts division will begin producing a variety of new peanut products in peanut free facilities. The company intends to roll out the new product slowly with hopes of expanding the line in the New Year.

“We are pleased to announce this new product line up that will allow peanut lovers all over the world to enjoy our peanuts without the risk of death,” said a company spokesperson. “Now all people will be able to share and enjoy our peanuts regardless of any food intolerance. We believe this will open up whole new audiences to peanuts, benefitting both our company and consumers everywhere.”

Initially the company intends to produce the base line of Dry Roasted, Honey Roasted, and Cocktail Peanuts out of the new facility which will be based in Farmington, West Virginia. Eventually the company plans to produce its entire line up in peanut free facilities.

“Our obligation to our customers is to produce the best quality product for as many people as possible to enjoy,” continued the spokesperson. “Just as our founders did, we plan to provide our buyers with the best possible eating experience without the risk of anaphylactic shock.”

Peanut allergies have become more and more common in recent years and are considered the leading cause of food-related deaths. Many confectionary companies to create new facilities and clearly packaging their product accordingly. The trend in notifying customers of potentially life threatening illnesses has also become a potent marketing ploy that has seen the fortunes of many companies take an upturn. Some see this latest product development as less a move to help prevent allergic death and more of a marketing move to help life slumping peanut sales.

“There’s nothing wrong per say with changing the formula to help lift sales, but it is a little disingenuous to say you are trying to help people when really all you are doing is trying to boost sales,” said Scrape TV business analyst Ken Green. “From a business perspective it’s a bit of a tightrope that you have to walk because you don’t want consumers rebelling. People aren’t stupid and they know when they are being manipulated and even if the deception is innocuous you still run the risk of angering them. Talking down to people rarely works well.”

The other question of course is how the company is able to produce a product free of contamination by itself. The company was mum on the process but guaranteed us that the peanut were one hundred per cent natural.

“If they had genetically altered the nuts so as not to cause anaphylaxis that would make sense, but this is very odd. One would hope that they aren’t simply offering a placebo in order to increase sales,” continued Green. “Telling people they won’t have a reaction doesn’t exactly work in this type of situation. This may be a side effect of the downturn in the economy. Everyone realizes that peanuts are exactly a necessity but hopefully companies won’t be turning to underhanded tricks that put people’s lives at risk in order to keep sales up. I mean honey roasted peanuts are really good, but not worth risking the grave, Cashews on the other hand.”